Facing Hope
by LinkCoolKitva
Summary: Stuck in the Badlands, no returning home. How will Taka defeat his Evil side?


Taka:  
I was lost, alone and empty; No one cared about me. I was lying in the Badlands alone. I can't completely remember what happened a week ago. One minute I am being accused for poisoning my father, next I wake up in this terrible desert. I think I must have lost some of my memory. My brother Mufasa must have knocked me out. Why was I accused? Why is it that I am the one getting the punishment for the death of Ahadi? Is this some sort of banishment? Will I be able to go home? Oh what has happen? I was trapped in my thoughts, 'and how I can't remember what happen with my brother clearly'. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I stood up, walked along alone.

I walked through this terrible desert, but somewhat it was beautiful, the pattern that the wind left behind, the beautiful shapes of the wind, this place was really pretty. Most people would consider the heat as bad, but I actually don't mind it. I continue walking, and I find this rock. It had the inscription of a scarab on it. I wondered where this came from, so I continued walking along. I climbed the dunes, and found a beautiful paradise. I walked over to it, and I walked throughout a while, but I decided not to go any farther. I felt like I wouldn't be accepted by the locals. So I continued walking through the Badlands. It was empty as a Hyenas head. I knew I was to die here, of starvation maybe, Thirst, Disease? Yea, I knew I was doomed. So I decided to keep on travelling, I knew nowhere to go.

I then tripped over a dune, or was it really a dune? It surely felt like something, it was freaky. I started to feel drowsy, time just slowed right down. I was falling, but slowly. But even though of that, I couldn't react in time. I just kept on falling; it was terrible. All around me I saw spirits, they looked like some of the kings of the past, and they must have been. Dad was there too. But then it just cut out, everything just returned to normal and I fell into a pit.

The pit was filled with scarab stones, making my landing bad. So I came out with a bad back. My legs were aching, I couldn't get up and my head really hurt. In fact every bone in my body was aching. I fell asleep, and then I seemed to wake up in this place; it was beautiful. There was food (Antelope, Buffalo, Zebra, Wildebeest and many other kinds of meat). There was also plenty of water, waterholes everywhere. It was a perfect place to be. I couldn't believe my eyes; I tried to wake but I couldn't. This was very real.

But then the supernatural stuff started to happen. The world was glowing, each and everything had a colour around it. I looked into the water, but the water was grey. Then the world became empty. Then a voice said "Taka". I sighed and yelled "What do you want?!" then the voice replied "your soul, I want your soul."  
"Why!?"  
"You are lost. You are stuck in a dream, you have no escape. You are alone."  
"No, I won't give my soul up to you."  
"You can't win"  
"What are you?"  
"I am the blackness in your heart, I will help you back into your old life, I will even make you king. I will make you the king of pride rock. All you need to do is give me your soul"  
"No! My brother is the rightful king."  
"But look what he did to you, he banished you. You know deep down that you need to kill your brother."  
"No!"  
That was when I ran, I ran until I escaped. There was no way out, and I was alone. I continued exploring this world. I saw pride rock and myself standing up on the throne, my brother was bowing down to me. I was standing up on the throne with this beautiful lioness. She was so pretty. It all vanished in the blink of an eye.

I woke up. I saw the same beautiful lioness as I saw in my dream. She said "are you aright " I didn't know what to say. She helped me up and asked my name. I told her my name was Taka. Her name was Zira. She was so nice. She was the perfect lioness for me. But I thought it was inevitable. She told me to lie down on a rock and relax for a bit. "Where are we?" I asked. She told me that we were in the middle of nowhere. At first I didn't believe her, but after I looked around, there were scarab stones everywhere; we were in the middle of nowhere. Zira was knocking around some stones. I asked her what she was doing; she said that she was trying to find something.

"It has to be around here somewhere" she said. "What?" I asked. "I'm looking for a dreamstone, when a lion touches one, they lose continence and they fall into to a deep sleep for three days. But for the lion it only seems like five minutes."  
"You mean I was asleep for three days?"  
"When I came, I sensed its presence and I saw you, I was waiting for you to wake up; I found you two days ago. Do you remember anything before you fell asleep?"  
"Well I do remember that I was walking through the desert and I tripped, and my body started aching from all these stones."  
"Wait, what did you trip on?"  
"I couldn't see it, it was buried in sand."  
"Where?"  
"Up there"  
I pointed to where I tripped. "Of course, it blends in with its surroundings" she said. I asked her how she knew all this. She told me that she was a geologist and she said she has studied these stones. "You must be thirsty, come with me" she said. She wrapped the stone in some sort of a fabric. She then walked along through the desert. "Come on, do you want to die of thirst?" she asked. I said no and ran and followed her. About half an hour later, we were at this grassland. It was quite hot compared to a savanna but quite cold compared to the desert we were just in. She led me into a den and placed the stone down next to another stone just like it. "What's the difference?" I ask. "I don't know. My father died researching these stones, and told me I need to find the secret of these stones. I have never been in one of these dreams. My father told me everything about the dreams and the stone"

I felt sorry for Zira living through that. But why was she studying them when she has seen what can happen? What secret was she talking about? Zira then showed me to the water hole, it was so sweet. My first taste of water in days; I was so hungry, so thirsty, but now my thirst was gone. She then led me to a berry bush garden. She told me that this was the only source of food she had. After I had ate, I said "Thank you very much, I better be going now." then she asked "Why are you in the desert?" I said that I didn't know.  
"Then why are you leaving so soon?"  
"I don't want to bother you; I will only bring bad luck"  
"Don't say that"  
"You're not the only one that has lost your father!" I cried. "What happen?" She asked. "I don't know. I can't remember; all I remember is my brother attacking me. He said something like, 'how dare you poison our father!' It was terrible."  
"I'm sorry about your father Taka, people die and there is nothing you can do about it. All you can do is live on your life."  
"But my family has abandoned me, and I am alone!"  
"My mother abandoned me and my father where I was four. you're not the only one. But you don't have to be alone."  
"I am alone, and there is nothing I can do."  
"You're not!"  
"I am!"  
"TAKA! LISTEN TO ME NOW! I am right here and you are not alone. I will be your friend. You don't have to run away from everyone just because of one major incident."  
"But..."  
"But nothing, you are not alone"  
"OK... fine..."  
We decided to go to sleep and wake up in the morning, it was quite late. Although I couldn't sleep I just wasn't tired. I had just woken up from a three day sleep just two hours ago. The morning came and I found myself asleep. It was past sunrise; I woke up and found Zira studying the stones. She looked around and said "morning sleepyhead". Then I asked how long since sunrise. Then she told me it was about an hour past.  
"Are you alight?"  
"Yea, I guess."  
" OK."  
"Why are you trying to find the secret?"  
"I don't know, my Father never told me."  
"The only thing he told me is that he went to a happy place, but it was dangerous to stay there too long"  
"I don't know."  
"Are you sure he meant a happy place?"  
"Yes, that is what he told me"  
"I think he is trying to protect you from the Truth."  
"What? What did you see in that dream?"  
"Things that are never meant to happen."  
"What, explain it to me?"  
I told her what I saw in every detail. She listened, and she was shocked. She decided to go into one of these dreams. But, there must be someone outside of the dream to make sure that they wake up. So she decided that I was to look after her and make sure she stayed alive. Because alone, there is no way that you could live. I am so glad she was there.

Zira:

Taka said he would look after me when I going to the dream. My father never told me what he actually saw, only happiness. So I told Taka to lie me on the rock after I touch the stone. I told him what he had to do to ensure I stayed alive. So I touched the stone. I then found myself drowsy, I fell asleep. I saw this beautiful lake; I saw a figure that looked like a blue glowing lion. I recognized this lion "Daddy!"  
"Zira, why have you come into this dream? I told you not to, it's too risky for a lioness like yourself."  
"You lied to me!"  
"No, I wanted to protect you."  
"But daddy"  
"Zira, I know about Taka."  
"How?"  
"What you are seeing is you heart."  
"What?"  
"You are subcontinents. You are in the world of your mind and heart."  
"You mean I am inside myself?"  
"Yes."  
"So you are really dead?"  
"In the physical world I am, I am a part of you"  
"So, this is only a dream?"  
"No, this, as I said, is the world within your mind and heart."  
"Wake up now Zira, if you stay any longer you will die.  
So I awoke. "Zira, Zira, Zira!" Said Taka, I woke up and said "Ok I'm up." then he said "It's almost been three and a half days since you fell asleep." Oh boy did time go quick, my time was up before I even knew it. I was so thirsty so I decided to go to the water hole and take a drink. "I have so many questions for my dad. I must go in again." I said "I think you should wait before you go back" Replied Taka. We decided to wait and find something to do, because it is boring sitting here with nothing to do.

I suggested that we go explore, Taka had no objections. We decided to go and find another dreamstone. I took Taka to see this ancient map. It was quite far away and it was dangerous to get there. So we started to go to it. First we had to get out of the grasslands, the long way. So we had to go out the back from the way they came in. We had to cross the river, but it was full of alligators. This caused us complications. So Taka ran and almost jumped strait over the river, but he landed on an alligator which then attacked him and he jumped straight away and ran as the alligators chased him. Taka ran and ran as fast as he could, and he finally lost them, at least that is what he told me. I tried to find a way over the river to reach Taka, i couldn't do anything. So I tried what Taka did and managed to jump right over the river no complications. I then ran and tried to catch up to Taka and that I did. He Slipped and then saw the dreamstone. So I wrapped it in a piece of leather fabric as I wrapped the others in.

So we went home, alligators get snappy. We run for our lives, what else can I say? When we got home we put the dreamstone with the others. When we put them together we noticed that they all connected to each other, so without touching the actual stones we were able to fit them together. This is where I accidentally touched a dreamstone. I started to feel a bit drowsy, but I tried my best to stay awake. But after a minute I collapsed.  
Taka then touched me before I completely entered the world in my mind so he came in the world too. "Taka, how did you come in here?" I asked, he didn't know the answer either. So we were both doomed I guess. My father appeared. He said "The last stone is found within your mind, within a deep dimension of your mind. If you can get it, you can discover the secret of the stones.  
So there it was the location of the last dreamstone. My father vanished. So we both traveled to try and find the last dreamstone. Then the three dreamstones appeared together, as a puzzle that is mission one piece. They followed us around, we need to complete the puzzle to find the secret, and we need to find the last dreamstone to find the secret. "So is that why my father was in the dream so long. That makes scene.  
The surrounding was a lakeside savanna It was a great place to be. The Savannah was unknown to me, but taka seemed to know what it was. So he led me to the place he calls pride rock, and in there was a portal to a dimension deeper that the one we are in. he then said "I Thought so, because before the voice said he will make me king of pride rock, and then I saw pride rock with us as the king and queen. I guess this leads to his dimension, or the place deep in my heart.  
We entered the portal and it was dark and very gloomy. "I guess this is the dimension your father was talking about." He said. He was so bold; he wasn't scared of a thing. I knew that this was going to be hard, but what I didn't know what was going to happen. We walked into what appeared as a catacomb. We kept on walking through it, there were spikes hanging loose from the ceiling-they looked as if they would fall with even the slightest disturbance.  
Then we entered into what appeared as a den, in the den there was a lion that looked like a scruffy version of Taka with a scar. "Who are you?" asked Taka. "Oh you don't remember me Taka? That's a shame" Said the lion in a kind-of manipulative voice. "I am Scar. I am you, the blackness in your heart." He continued. Then next a lioness came in. She was ugly, her ears had holes in them, and she was scruffy and weird. "Zira, Zira" She said. "I am you Zira and shall I be you forever, and with scar I will be forever and ever." Behind them was the dreamstone. It was the only way out. We had to get it. Then scar said "Taka and Good Zira, now that doesn't sound right. How about Scar and Bad Zira, oh I like the sound of that."  
"SHUT UP! LEAVE US ALONE!" Taka Yelled. We both filled with rage, it was our biggest mistake, they disappeared and we were trapped here forever. The fourth dreamstone vanished, which was our only way out. We lost, we were stuck in here forever.


End file.
